CALGARY, AB (November 27, 2018) – The Brooks Bandits (24-3) allowed three goals in the opening 3:12, and their comeback bids fell just short, as the team’s 10-game win streak came to an end on Tuesday night at the hands of a 4-3 defeat to the Calgary Mustangs on the road.
The Bandits, missing 7 regular players due to injury or suspension, dressed two affiliates in forward Justin Ross and defenceman Dylan Witzke from the midget AAA Calgary Buffaloes, and continued to use forward Orca Wiesblatt (Calgary, AB) as a defenceman for the third consecutive game.
Brooks’ troubles began in the opening minute, when a shot from the Calgary blue line was blocked and deflected to neutral ice, where Joseph Karpyshyn chased it down, sped by the Bandit defence on a breakaway, and tucked a low backhander by starting goalie Pierce Charleson (Aurora, ON) for the opening goal. It was the first of three points on the night for Karpyshyn, who led the way on the night with a goal and two assists.
At the 2:25 mark, Mitchell Watson was found open at the left side of the Brooks net for a backdoor tap in to double the Mustang lead, and soon after that, the Bandits were called for a high sticking double minor that led to a Reece Soukoroff point shot power play goal just ten seconds into the man advantage.
But Brooks stemmed the tide there, outshooting the Mustangs 14-9 in the middle frame, killing off a full five minute penalty kill when Jake Theis (Chanhassen, MN) was ejected for fighting, and cutting the deficit to one. First, Jakob Lee (Owen Sound, ON) dug a puck free from the end wall and dropped it back for a Simon Boyko (Mississauga, ON) wrister that beat Calgary goalie Ashton Abel at the 7:50 mark. Just over four minutes later, Andranik Armstrong (Alexandria, VA) made it a one-goal game when he flipped a shot home from the slot.
The Bandits had the third period start as inauspiciously as the first, though, as Tanner Klassen scored from the left circle on a wrist shot just 54 seconds in for what would hold up as the game winning goal. Lee notched his second point of the night at the 15:48 mark when he tapped in a rebound from the left side of the Calgary net set up by Simon Gravel (Boucherville, QC), but a late boarding penalty to Brooks in the final two minutes killed the comeback bid and allowed Calgary to hold on.
The Bandits outshot Calgary 37-31 in the game, going 0 for 1 on their power play and 3 for 4 on the penalty kill. They host the Mustangs on Friday night at home in a rematch, with puck drop at 7 PM and tickets for the game available online at tickets.brooksbandits.ca.